Votes needed to help breathe life into St Asaph Song School

VOTES are needed to help members receive a £25,000 grant which will help breathe life into an Song School.

The St Asaph Cathedral Song School, a listed building, needs funds to repair, renovate and rewire the building and install a heating system.

The Song School - known as the former Diocesan Office, is sat diagonally opposite St Asaph Cathedral and was converted into a hall with a piano for rehearsals.
It is the office for the master of the choristers, the assistant organist and is used as a space for choirs to rehearse.

The Dean of St Asaph Cathedral, the Very Reverend Nigel Williams, said: “The building is extremely expensive to heat at the moment and it doesn’t get to anywhere near the kind of temperature that it needs to be when the choristers come in to rehearse.

“The building has no ability to retain any heat so it is a matter of using additional portable heaters in there when the children come in. It’s not a comfortable building so this work will mean a better building and a reduced expense for the Cathedral.”

A member of the Cathedral congregation, who was also a member of the Engage Foundation - a society which offers community funding, put forward the project to the Engage Foundation’s in the hope of acquiring funding.

It is hoped that the money will also enhance the performance and musical heritage of the community.

Mr Williams added: “We will keep trying different fundraising avenues until we are able to get the money together.

“We put this package of upgrades together because it addresses specific issues around insulation and heating – it also safeguards a listed building for future use.”